Product Description

"How I Made GBP2 Million in the Stock Market" is an extraordinary book. It tells one of the most unusual success stories in the history of the stock market. Darvas was not a stock market professional trading on inside information. He was one half of the highest paid dance team in show business, an expert cryptic crossword compiler, and a championship ping pong player. Yet, he was able to make himself a millionaire several times over by his unique investment approach. Unlike other so-called systems, it worked regardless of whether the market rose or fell. When news of Darvas's fantastic profits and methods leaked out, he was featured in "Time" magazine. He then was persuaded to write a book which became an instant hit, selling nearly 200,000 copies in eight weeks. Many of the companies talked about in this book no longer exist. Many of the stocks are no longer traded. Nevertheless, the basic principles are as sound as ever.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #98925 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 184 pages

About the Author
Before emigrating to America, Darvas studied economics at the
University of Budapest. Arriving in the US in 1951, Darvas trained with his
half-sister, Julia, to be a ballroom dancer, becoming extremely succesful
and touring the world by 1956.

He discovered investing in 1952, when a Toronto nightclub, unable to pay
him in cash, instead paid him with shares.

It was on a two-year tour of the world that he initially developed his
`Darvas Box' method of screening stocks - a method of picking stocks based
on the stock's price and volume - and later went on to refine this to
remove any human element from his trading to susbtantial success.

Nicolas Darvas is regarded as one of the best traders in the history of the
market and his method, whilst complicated and difficult to master, has been
rigorously tested and has been found to be one of the best trading systems
yet developed.

Customer Reviews

Proof that simple is best
Nicolas Darvas was a professional dancer who became interested in the stock market. Because his professional job meant he travelled the world he became reliant on information that was mailed to him. He would scour Barrons Weekly for stocks with unusal volumes and when they 'broke out' of their 'box', he would buy.

His technique was in essence a breakout strategy, buying when levels of resistance became levels of support.

For me, the book delivered 3 very important lessons.
1. You need to develop your own system through trial and error and hard work
2. Scaling into positions is key (and an incredibly tough skill to master)
3. If you find a successful formula, stick with it and reap its rewards.

If you want to know the technical details of the 'Darvas Box' method, then you are probably better off searching the internet for free information - In fact you can download the Darvas box method for Tradestation (for free) and use it in your trading, however if you enjoy a well written success story that reinforces (or introduces) some basic tenets of trading, then buy this book.

Cutesy title - serious work
This book details the trades of an investor/trader who turned a small stake into $2 million in 18 months. As with most successful investor/traders he survived years of failure before developing a system and the discipline to adhere to that system which would make him rich. This is NOT your typical "I get rich by selling the book" publication. This is real, and readable.

One of the Best Books Written on Stock Market Strategy
This is probably my favorite book on maneuvering in the stock market. If you read William O'neill's "How to make Money in Stocks", which is also excellent, you will find he uses and expands upon many of Darvas' principles. O'neill also lists it as one of his top ten must reads on the stock market. Darvas' rules for cutting losses have helped me to limit my losses from 2 to 5 percent on average. I have avoided some serious losses from time to time(some up to 75 percent) by using Darvas' principles and cutting my losses quickly and have avoided avery market downturn in the last two years. While everyone was in distress about the '98 bear market, I was comfortably on the sidelines with my funds in cash thanks to this wonderful book. If more stars were available to rate this book, I surely would have given them. By the way, they're out of print, but if you can get Darvas' other books, "Wall Street-The Other Las Vegas" and "You Can Still Make it the Market", these are other followups that are just as good as "How I Made $2,000,000" and will really drive the points of his methods home.